‘My’ Fabulous Festival Fringe Folk!
And how I became known as the ‘White Witch’ of the Fringe thanks to the inimitable Deborah Frances-White (The Guilty Feminist) and the wonderful actor and comedian Cariad Lloyd.
Home page of The Guilty Feminist podcast number 49, entitled Periods Redux with Cariad Lloyd. Release date May 29th 2017
“So do you treat lots of acrobats during August?”
Many of my regular patients think I’ll be treating lots of acrobats during the Festival Fringe, but my August cohort tend to be improvisors, comedians, show directors and producers, agents and actors.
As dancers and acrobats tend to be doing exactly the same moves at exactly the same time for every show, their bodies are very used to the expectations placed on them. Therefore, they’re less likely to develop a new issue - but if they do, it’ll probably be a more serious issue than I can deal with.
Whilst improvisors have no idea what their bodies might be doing from 1 minute to the next and can develop real issues throughout a 4 week run.
As for the self-employed actors, comedians, producers and directors…. the stress levels are off the scale which can present in a manner of physical and emotional issues.
Hence their need for treatment from me.
“So how did you end up treating comedians?” Funny you should ask that…
August 2013:
Cariad Lloyd had her 1st treatment from me in 2013; Cariad performs with the wonderful Fringe show “Austentatious” and has appeared on QI, Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie to You, amongst others.
No pics from 2013, this is from 2023!
August 2014
Cariad returned!
But she had had real problems just prior to coming to Edinburgh, one of which was that her period was very late.
(Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist about me sharing patient information/GDPR, Cariad has spoken publicly about this - listen to the podcast!)
Deborah Frances-White also came in for treatment that year and was so happy with her treatment that she booked 5 more.
Neither of them knew that the other had treatments from me.
Then Deborah heard a rumour….
Part 1 - FYI the ‘special place’ is only 1 hand on top of the abdomen and my other hand underneath on the sacrum. Nothing else!
Part 2
How did you do that?!
It’s actually a lot less ‘exciting’ and nowhere near as funny as the way Deborah and Cariad describe it but just for the record:
Craniosacral Therapy treatments (CST) at the most basic of levels, creates more space within the body.
CST stimulates the body’s own healing mechanism - the body knows what it needs to be as healthy as possible for that day. I don’t know what it needs and, very often, neither does the patient’s conscious brain, but the body does.
The craniosacral system is intrinsically linked to the central nervous system.
The CS system is mostly the cranium, spine and sacrum with CS fluid being produced by the arachnoid space in the brain
I can’t feel your nervous system, but I can work with the CS system, therefore we can affect the CNS.
By using CST techniques around the abdomen, all the tissues are given/’allowed’ more space, therefore they are more able to relax. A relaxed tummy, allows everything to work as it’s meant to.
In this case, the theory would be that, the stress that the patient was under would lead to everything becoming very tight and compressed. Also, the concussion that she had would have effected the cranium and, as the cranium and sacrum need to be working together for the system to function correctly, I will also have treated the cranium and spine.
And lo! Her period made an entrance.
Asking the patient if it would be ok if it did arrive, is something I’ll always do if the period has been delayed by more than a week. If it comes, well, it could be very heavy.
Not ideal if you’re on stage at the time.
Told you it wasn’t quite as comical !
And here endeth the biology lesson!
From these 2 wonderful women, my August clinic grew and grew.
And I must also mention these guys;
The Showstoppers! just fabulous customers who’ve been coming for 12+ years, the wonderful Charlie Vero Martin (I have no idea how I don’t have any pics of her!) and the lovely Nick Brice of The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show, who has the title of ‘Festival-Fringe-Patient-Who’s-Been-Coming-The-Longest’, annually since 2007!!
Have a look at the reviews page on my website to see who else has been in over the years.
